Subject: RE: bug#12908: 24.3.50; file `emacs_backtrace.txt'?

From: "Drew Adams" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 17 Nov 2012 15:01:40 -0800

(I see that everyone is using the original bug thread, even though I created a
new one at Eli's request, and the original one was supposedly closed (doc
fixed).)

> (Note that unlike on Unix, Emacs on Windows doesn't change its current
> directory from where it was started, so the backtrace will normally
> end up in the same directory for all invocations of Emacs on that
> machine by that user.)
> 
> If we want the information in .emacs.d, we need to actively write it
> there on Unix.

On Windows, I believe that some (many? most?) users start Emacs from a shortcut,
and that some (many? most?) of those start it in a directory that has meaning
for them, e.g., a directory of user files.

(I, for example, start it in a directory of my Emacs Lisp files, and I open it
with Dired there.)

Is the situation similar on Unix?  Do users often start Emacs in a user
directory?

It's one thing to stick the backtrace file in the startup directory if that is
the default Emacs bin directory or some such Emacs-related folder.  It's another
thing to stick the file in a user directory because the user intentionally
starts Emacs there.

That has been my point from the beginning: I don't really care where you stick
it, as long as it is in some Emacs/system internal program folder and not a user
folder.

There is a reason why programs on Windows are often installed (and started) in
an application-specific folder under `Program Files', and not in any old user
folder.